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9 April 2009 Dozens of Afghan people, including
women and children, were killed in the latest US air
strike in the war-torn country, a leading independent
humanitarian organization affirmed on Wednesday, May
6, a day after the killer raid the US pledged a probe
into.
"Dozens of people were killed, including women and
children," Jessica Barry, spokeswoman of the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) told
Agence France Presse (AFP).
American warplanes waged deadly strikes in a battle
with the Taliban on Tuesday that destroyed many houses
in the western province of Farah.
But while the US occupation army said it was unable to
confirm civilians' deaths, the ICRC became the latest
among regional and local sources to affirm that scores
of afghani civilians have been killed in the raid
while huddled in their houses.
"We can absolutely confirm that there are civilian
casualties," Barry said.
The Red Cross sent a team to investigate after they
were contacted by locals asking for help.
"Their impression was that there were dozens of dead."
One of the dead was a community volunteer for the
Afghan Red Crescent Society, who was killed with 13
members of his family, the ICRC spokeswoman added.
Villagers brought truckloads of bodies to the
province's capital on Tuesday to prove that scores of
civilians had been killed by the strikes.
Estimates of the deadly attacks' overall toll,
however, varied widely since yesterday.
The governor of Farah Province, Rohul Amin, said about
30 bodies had been trucked to his office, most of them
women and children.
Other local and regional officials said the death toll
may have been much higher, from 70 to well over 100
civilians.
Ghulan Farooq, a member of parliament from the
province, said her information, based on talking to
locals in the Bala Boluk district where the fighting
took place, was that as many as 150 people were
killed.
He added US strikes destroyed 17 houses in which
people huddled fearing the fight. |
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